9:00 AM Saturday Morning Keynote

Rick Hanson—author, neuropsychologist, and therapist—will examine the practical tools that brain science has already given us and look ahead to the next stage of how to use neuroscience to enhance our clinical craft.

In his books, Buddha’s Brain and Hardwiring Happiness, neuropsychologist and therapist Rick Hanson has illuminated the fundamental mismatch between the technological environment of 21st-century life and our evolutionary roots in a far more unpredictable world filled with immediate danger. Weaving together insights from evolutionary biology, modern neuroscience, positive psychology, and mindfulness practices, he reveals the difficulty at the core of human experience—our struggle to overcome the negativity bias wired into our brains that enabled our ancestors to survive but now causes so much unnecessary emotional suffering.

The founder of the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom, Hanson has offered a road map of how to use both traditional wisdom practices and the latest advances in neuroscience to move beyond our natural tendencies toward overreactivity and needless worry.

In this keynote, he’ll explore both sides of psychotherapy’s love affair with the brain, examining the clinical benefits and potential pitfalls of using neuroscientific concepts in the consulting room. He’ll survey the tools that brain science has already given us and look ahead to the next stage of how we might use it to enhance our clinical craft.